


d-minor coffee cakes

by oeuvre



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 04:24:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/670231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oeuvre/pseuds/oeuvre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes twelve months, four seasons, and one song a day till they fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	d-minor coffee cakes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mamakashi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamakashi/gifts).



2 January - ( _Reunion,_ Steven Cravis)

"Thank you."

Akashi looks up at the musician when he hears those words and plasters a cursory smile on his face. The man is taller than him, which earns him no points with the younger business executive, but that doesn't change the fact that he did beautiful things with that keyboard. The small heap of money in his instrument bag lets Akashi know that he isn't alone in that thought.

"You deserve it," he says, before turning around and heading for the light at the top of the escalator.

Behind him, the music starts again.

 

 

17 February - ( _La valse des monstres_ , Yann Tiersen)

His name is Midorima Shintarou, age 21, natural green hair (no, he didn't have some accident when he was little, and apparently it's rude to ask), an ungodly (and quite frankly, unfair) 195 centimeters, and Akashi still cannot fathom why he's still playing in the subway if he earns so much money every day simply from passerby.

He drops a ten dollar bill in the case and Midorima nods and thanks him like he usually does, all without a single falter in his playing. Akashi should nod back and tell him he deserves it and move on like he has been doing for the past month, but he's early today (possibly on purpose) and has a few minutes to kill.

"You could play in a concert hall, you know," he says, waiting for even the slightest stumble in the piano-playing. 

To his disappointment, the closest thing he gets to a reaction is Midorima shifting keys and speeding up with a crescendo. A woman walking by drops a bill in the case, and he thanks her before responding, "Unfortunately, that's not as interesting or rewarding as it sounds."

Akashi hums, checks his watch, and moves on.

 

 

16 March - ( _Fly_ , Ludovico Einaudi)

It's starting to warm up, and Midorima no longer wears his usual crimson scarf when Akashi walks by with his ten-dollar bill at the ready.

"Pity, it suited you," he comments as he drops the money and Midorima thanks him and he responds, as always, with a half-assed compliment. Akashi then does what he has been doing for the past month--sets down his briefcase, leans against one of the cement pillars framing Midorima and his keyboard, and stands there for ten minutes listening as the pianist continues on without a single break, one song blending into another.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're ripping these people off," Akashi says. Still no reaction. He checks his watch to make sure he's not running over his alloted fifteen minutes and settles back, satisfied, when he sees that there's still two left.

They don't speak again until Akashi picks up his briefcase to leave, and even then it's only an exchange of goodbyes.

 

 

29 April - ( _Air Music_ , George Winston)

Akashi drops his money in the case, leans against the pillar, and responds to Midorima's 'thank you' with an 'of course'.

He stays there for half an hour, watching the people come and go. A few of the regulars notice him and give him smiles as they walk by, and Akashi sighs internally when he realizes that they expect polite smiles back and forces his lips to tilt upwards. It feels awkward as hell, but it seems to satisfy them and they continue on with either a final wave or call back to him and Midorima.

"Not very personable, are we," Midorima hums as he swings into another jazz piece. (Akashi had asked him earlier why he started playing songs so far from his personality, but Midorima had only responded that he didn't play to his personality, he played to popular demand. Apparently, in his mind, jazz was popular in the spring, and Akashi didn't care enough to argue.)

"Personable when I need to be," Akashi responds.

His thirty minutes elapse, and he nods to Midorima's goodbye as he heads for the exit.

 

 

19 May - ( _Happiness Is_ , Vince Guaraldi Trio)

"I'm not sure I like this jazz phase."

"It's about to change," Midorima says in response as Akashi drops in his money. "More importantly, how are you not going bankrupt yet?"

"What an offensive question."

Midorima ignores him. "You give me ten dollars a day. That's three hundred in a short month--it's been approximately fifteen hundred dollars you've spent on me. I'd be flattered if I didn't think you were just being stupid."

Akashi laughs, and he realizes it's the first time he's laughed in front of Midorima because the other finally (finally) stumbles in his right hand and has to switch keys abruptly to compensate for the sudden slip up.

 

 

23 June - ( _Eternity_ , Kyle Landry)

Akashi drops in his ten dollar bill, sets Midorima's can of red bean soup at the edge of his keyboard, and situates himself at his usual post against the pillar.

(There is no 'thank you', there is no 'you're welcome', because Shintarou and Seijuurou are no longer strangers.)

He listens silently for thirty of his forty-five free minutes before speaking up with, "You know, the arrangement you're playing has a violin part in it."

Midorima doesn't turn around. "It does."

"Did you know I played the violin?"

"I didn't."

Akashi fights a smile. "I'm very good."

"I'm sure."

A pause. Midorima finishes the song and, instead of sliding onto a next one, loops back around and starts the same one again. It doesn't go unnoticed by Akashi.

"I haven't played in five years, actually."

"Mmhmm."

"I've been thinking about picking it up again."

"Good for you."

"Actually, I picked it up again three months ago."

"Even better."

"I'll play for you."

 

 

9 July - ( _Last Carnival_ , Acoustic Cafe)

"You're late," Midorima informs him as Akashi drops a ten-dollar bill on his keyboard and sets down his own case beside it. He hums in acknowledgement while pulling out his violin, settling the instrument against his hip and plucking the strings by the bridge before making occasional adjustments with the pegs and fine tuners.

"We agreed on seven."

"You agreed on seven, I said six-thirty." Even Midorima's etude sounds irritated. Akashi loves it.

He dips again to pull out his bow, cracking a block of rosin with the screw of it before sliding it along the hair. It drops back into its case as Akashi lifts the violin up to his shoulder, flicking his hair to keep it from getting in the way, and raises his bow right onto the strings.

"Whenever you're ready."

And they play, and earn double the money.

 

 

27 August - ( _Expression_ , Helen Jane Long)

It happens when they're in the middle of a song, with a nice semi-circle of people gathering around them, that Midorima turns to Akashi and says, too low for any of the people around them to hear, "Stop after this song, they just opened a new coffee shop down the street and they're giving out free coffees to celebrate."

Akashi doesn't say anything initially, but when he's on a down bow and drawing out a long vibrato he turns to Midorima to catch him staring. "I'm going to be late for work."

Midorima responds with a surprise glissando. Akashi doesn't startle at all--only catches the crescendo and presses down harder on the strings to keep up, ripping the notes from his bow.

When they finish, they pack up silently and head down the street for coffee.

Akashi is late.

 

 

1 September - ( _B.T_., Yuki Kajiura)

Akashi tries to fight back a yawn but ends up failing, opting instead to raise his hand and attempt to hide it behind his wrist.

"Shintarou, it's impractical to get to the subway so early in the morning," he says (most definitely does not complain, because Akashi Seijuurou takes everything in stride and never, never complains), burrowing his chin into his scarf to escape the draft that swirls in because of that one asshole that didn't close his window on the bus.

"You'll wake up as soon as we start playing," is Midorima's response. His grip tightens on their interlocked fingers and, after a moment, opts instead to grab one of Akashi's hands in his own and rub his fingers to warm them while turning his face away, attempting to hide a yawn over his shoulder. It doesn't escape Akashi's notice.

"From now on we're setting up at five-thirty, not four," he says, and it's final.

 

 

13 October - ( _Love Hurts_ \- Yiruma)

"You should have told me you were feeling sick," Midorima sighs, exasperatedly, while Akashi blinks blearily at him and wonders, in his fever-induced confusion, when it was exactly that Shintarou came into his house and wrapped him in a gigantic comforter and sat him on the couch like an oversized marshmallow.

"I'm not feeling sick though," Akashi retorts, indignated that Midorima would think such a thing of him. "I don't get sick."

"Tell that to your fever."

"I don't have a fever."

Midorima sighs again and flashes the thermometer reading at him, leaving Akashi furrowing his brows at the unnaturally high number.

"It's broken, remind me to buy a new one."

"Akashi, you - " Midorima breaks off and shakes his head, pushing Akashi back down onto the couch when he attempted to get up again. "Just stay there, alright? Until I go buy another thermometer, just - just stay there and pretend, for my sake, that you have a fever."

It takes a few more minutes until Midorima manages to persuade Akashi to sit and just take a short break before situating himself at the piano in Akashi's living room (definitely not an unnecessary purchase, Akashi argued that he was also thinking about taking up piano) and playing until the redhead finally gives in and falls asleep.

Akashi's last thought before he slips into unconsciousness is how much better Midorima's playing sounds on an actual piano than on a stupid keyboard.

(And that he needed to get that C re-tuned, it was flat.)

 

 

29 November - ( _Missing_ , Mami Ishizuka)

"I quit my job."

Midorima raises his eyebrow, and Akashi relishes in how easy it now is to see every little emotion play out on his face. There's no briefcase today, not even a violin case, actually. It's just Akashi--cheeks and the tip of his nose bitten red, face nearly half-hidden in that stupid brown plaid scarf, and hands digging into the pockets of his black trench coat in a vain attempt to stay warm.

"Congratulations?"

"Thanks. I was late too many times."

"How are you going to manage?" Midorima asks, as Akashi steps up to him and tucks a ten dollar bill into Midorima's pocket.

"Son of a wealthy CEO, I didn't ever have to work at all," Akashi admits.

There's a moment of silence when Midorima finishes the song and lets a rare silence take over the subway.

"Same."

A muffled snort, followed by genuine peals of laughter, spread in place of the usual music.

 

 

25 December - ( _Song from a Secret Garden_ , Secret Garden)

Their post by the exit of the subway is always dark, usually cold, and sometimes smells. The escalators up are to their left, where the sun slips through to light up their little patch of cement, and the escalators down to the right, where the tunnels are always lit with eye-burning artificial light and they occasionally had to fight for sound with the clacking of trains stopping and going.

Christmas Day is a slow one, and after a few hours of not having many people even pausing to listen, they call it a day and pack up, Midorima and his keyboard and Akashi and his violin, and walk up the escalators themselves. The moment they step onto the sidewalk, a large snowflake lands on the tip of Midorima's nose, and Akashi fights a snort before ordering him to bend down and leaning in, kissing it off.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted; written originally for the Kurobas Secret Santa exchange on tumblr.


End file.
